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UF recruits shine at IAAF World Youth

Although they haven’t competed for Florida yet, three incoming freshman have already started proving their worth to the 2012-13 track and field team. Shayla Sanders, Arman Hall and Robin Reynolds have spent the past week competing at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

Together, the future Gators earned three medals for Team USA, two of which came from relay events.

Hall, the sprinter from Pembroke Pines, won the first medal after finishing second in the 400 meters. He used a personal best of 45.39 to claim the silver and upset Aldrich Bailey, who has the fastest high school time in America.

However, winning a medal in one event wasn’t enough for Hall. He wrapped up his week in Spain by running the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay. Hall ran a 45.78 to help grab the gold and set a new junior-world-leading time of 3:03.99.

“It’s great to finally get on the medal stand with a gold medal,” Hall said. “It’s a great feeling being around all of these talented guys. It was a lot of fun. I wish I could do this again soon. It was a great experience to come overseas again. Great environment, great experience and great people - I loved it.”

Sanders, the Gatorade Florida Girls’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year ran the anchor leg to win in the 4x100-meter relay. The Lauderdale Lakes native help set a world-junior-leading time of 43.89.

Reynolds was the last of the incoming freshmen to finish competing at the World Junior Track and Field Championships.

The sprinter competed in a runoff for the 4x400-meter relay team, running a time of 3:34.25. Like Hall and Sanders, Reynolds helped set a world-junior-leading time. Although Reynolds competed in the runoff for the semifinals, she didn’t run in the finals because she was an alternate for the event.

In addition to the three future Gators, sophomores Taylor Burke and Ciarra Brewer also competed in Spain.

Brewer finished sixth overall in the triple jump with a leap of 13.38 meters. The Southeastern Conference Champion was the only American to make it to the triple-jump finals.

Burke wrapped up her first year competing for Florida by finishing 16th in the high jump with a mark of 1.79 meters.